Last blog I said I would share the method I used to make the legs for the recent table. I made the legs with mostly hand tools.
First I glued elm boards together to give me approximately 1 5/8 squares. Making sure the boards were flat and the glue joint was perfect probably took more time than making each leg.
I like elm, it is tough, a bit stringy and has interesting grain patterns. The leg is 13 inches long and 1 5/8 square. I am planning to put a 1 3/8 tenon on one end.
I drilled out a board to give me a jig for both marking and size testing.
I've made tenons this size before so I kept the jig from making small tables and stools.
I used the hole to mark the end of the leg blank.
I marked the tenon to be 1 1/2 inches, then cut into the blank's corners with a fine toothed saw .
Using a chisel, draw knife and rasp I rounded the tenon until it fit tightly into the hole in the jig. After the tenon was right I clamped the leg into the vise and planed off the four corners to give a rustic hexagon shape.
To do this job the tools I used were a saw, a plane, draw knife (just 'cause I've got one), a rasp and vise to hold the work in place. I used my favourite home made wood rasp.
If you are ever someplace that is selling hacksaw blades by the bundle cheap, go for it. I can't remember what I paid for this bunch of blades but it was pocket change cheap, and I use it all the time.
A decent drill with a bit of power will drill the holes in the top/seat and the legs can be made to be sturdy and attractive. A lathe is nice to have, but not all shops have the space or budget, You can make acceptable legs without a lathe.
cheers ianw